1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a backlight assembly and a liquid crystal display (LCD) having the same. More specifically, the present invention relates to a backlight assembly that may reduce a hot spot due to dark and bright portions of a Light Emitting Diode (LED) lamp by providing a lens unit including convex lenses on the LED lamp and including a plurality of LED packages, and to a liquid crystal display having the backlight assembly.
2. Discussion of the Background
LCDs are not self-luminous and therefore may have lower definition when viewed in a location having little light. Accordingly, the LCDs commonly include a light source, such as a backlight for increasing the brightness of the LCD's displayed image.
A backlight used in an LCD may be one of at least two types, including an edge type or a direct type, which are classified according to the position of the light source. In the edge type backlight, a light source is positioned along an edge of an LCD panel, and light emitted from the light source is irradiated onto the LCD panel through a light guide plate positioned below the LCD panel. In the direct type backlight, light sources are disposed below the LCD panel to directly irradiate light onto the entire surface of the LCD panel. Generally, the edge type backlight may provide good uniformity of light, while the direct type may allow the LCD to be thinner.
A cold cathode fluorescent lamp (CCFL) has been used as the backlight light source for the edge type. Recently, however, an LED lamp has been increasingly used since an LED lamp may have a long lifespan and low power consumption, and may allow the LCD to be lightweight and thinner.
A conventional LED lamp includes a plurality of LED packages that emit light, and provides light distribution to the LCD by emitting light from the LED packages as point sources. Light from the point light sources is then converted into surface light by a light guide plate.
However, since the LED lamps are point light sources, the amount of light incident on a side of the light guide plate may be not uniform. More specifically, the amount of light irradiated onto a region of the light guide plate close to each LED package may be greater than the amount of light irradiated onto a region of the light guide plate between the LED packages. For this reason, a hot spot may occur, where a region of the backlight is bright while an adjacent region is darker.